Turney School
Information for parents/carers and schools.
Our Provision
Turney school is a community for children and young people with a range of
learning difficulties. The school specialises in supporting learners who have
speech and language difficulties, autistic spectrum disorder and moderate or
severe learning difficulties.
Developing the whole child and young person is important to us. Our ethos is
to provide a secure, caring and supportive environment in which there is an
expectation of pupil achievement and raised attainment. This is reflected in all
we do and throughout our website
Turney is a school for children and young people aged 5-16 years (18 from
September 2015), with special educational needs (SEN). The school is the
Local Authority’s (LA) designated school for children and young people with
Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and complex learning difficulties.
The children and young people are taught in the following key stages:
Early Years (Reception) and KS1
Rising 5-7 years.
KS2
7-11 years
KS3
11-14years
KS4
14-16 years.
Children generally enter the Reception Class, or occasionally in Year 1 and
currently continue to the end of KS4, though places can be available
throughout the school if there is a space in that key stage. The Reception
Class follows the early years curriculum, whilst the remaining key stage
groups follow the National Curriculum. Children in Key Stages 1,2 and 3 work
in learning groups which match their individual needs and ability. In KS4 the
young people work specifically in Years 10 and 11 following agreed
accreditation routes, including GCSE, Entry Level and ASDAN.
All children and young people follow the National Curriculum. Class sizes are
based on the needs of the children and young people, but will typically be a
ratio of 8-10 pupils to 3 adults, depending on the needs of the children/young
people.
The school applies an holistic approach to learning, and works closely with
our two speech therapists, occupational therapist, our educational
psychologist and the school doctor and nurse, as well as outside agencies to
enable all children and young people with special educational needs to
access the curriculum.
We use the the following strategies to make sure the students are comfortable
in school:
TEACCH
TEACCH is a structured approach to learning, with separate, defined areas
for each task, such as individual work, group activities, and play. It relies
heavily on visual learning, a strength for many young people with autism. The
young people use schedules made up of pictures and/or words to order their
day and to help them move smoothly between activities. Children with autism
may find it difficult to make transitions between activities and places without
schedules.
The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
PECS is designed to teach functional communication skills with an initial focus
on spontaneous communication. It has been and continues to be
implemented in a variety of settings and contexts (home, school, community)
so users have the skills to communicate their wants and needs, as well as
supporting comprehension.
Social Communication/ Emotional Regulation/ Transactional Support
(SCERTS)
A programme to support young people to learn and spontaneously apply
functional and relevant skills in a variety of settings and with a variety of
partners.
Social Stories
The goal of a Social Story is to share accurate social information in a patient
and reassuring manner that is easily understood by its audience. Half of all
Social Stories developed should affirm something that an individual does well.
Intensive Interaction
Intensive interaction is an approach to teaching the pre-speech fundamentals
of communication to children and adults who have severe learning difficulties
and/or autism and who are still at an early stage of communication
development.
Positive Play
Positive Play - providing positive playground experiences. Positive
playgrounds can provide:• a bright, safe and stimulating environment
• positive playing areas that help improve the health of children and
encourage cognitive development
• help develop skills of social interaction at all levels
help reduce the incidence of bullying and provide a safe "quiet" area
Our preferred signing system is Makaton.
Our Approach
All children and young people follow the National Curriculum, which is broken
down into small learning steps and follow a personalized learning programme.
This means that all areas of the curriculum are broken down into several
smaller learning steps, so the children and young people are able to access
the curriculum in a more structured and meaningful way. The school uses a
system called PIVATS, which is nationally reognised and used by other
specialist provision. This not only allows the school to assess the children
and young people accurately, but also ensures that work offered to each pupil
is differentiated.
The school places a high emphasis on communication and literacy. It follows
the Letters and Sounds Programme, which is supported by the Picture
Exchange, Communication System (PECs) from Year 1- Year 11 where
necessary.
Learning is ‘hands on’ and practical and involves trips and outside visits.
Regular trips and visits include weekly swimming for every year group.
Weekly trips to Vauxhall City Farm for horse riding lessons, Dulwich Park,
Tescos etc. Pupils regularly visit the Battersea Zoo and regularly visit the
school’s allotment.
Pupils are taught the following subjects:
Engish, mathematics, science, humanities, RE, ICT,PE, swimming, food
technology, art, resistant materials and literacy (including phonics and
communication systems)
Curriculum maps and our teaching and learning policies are published and
updated on the school web site, along with all other school policies, including
homework.
Personal, Social, Health, Citizenship (PSHCE) and life skills are a
fundamental part of the curriculum. The school aims for our young people to
leave school and move on to post 16 provision and into the community as
independent and confident adults.
Work experience and work related learning play a large part of the Key Stage
4 learning. Pupils have taken up work experience in The Healthy Gourmet
Café, Lambeth College, James Allens Prep School, the local Post Office and
the Willow Nursery.
Pupils develop work related skills throughout KS4 and have developed
cleaning and maintenance enterprises, which are put to good use in the local
community, for example cleaning at All Saints Church.
All of our pupils are supported through the different strategies which enable
children and young people with autism to access the curriculum and be
comfortable at school. These strategies include makaton sign language,
PECS, Intensive Interaction, TEACCH, Communication in Print, and we have
recently introduced SCERTS. There are two sensory rooms across the
school and one soft-play area to support the sensory needs of the children
and young people
Pupil progress for every child or young person is measured individually every
six weeks across the academic year in each subject. In this way we can
accurately pin point any difficulties and set plans to support the children and
young people to improve. Learning targets are set at the beginning of each
year for all pupils. These targets are measured, reviewed and discussed with
parents/carers in meetings throughout the year.
All children and young people are encouraged to join either our lunchtime or
after school clubs. These include boccia, football, cookery, ICT, reading.
People who work with us
Teaching and learning is supported by the additional adults who work
alongside the teachers and teaching assistants to meet the needs of the
pupils. The people who work with us are the speech therapists, occupational
therapist and the school’s dedicated educational psychologist. Our approach
is for the therapists to be part of the teaching and learning environment by
supporting and training the teachers and teaching assistants to use the
individual strategies which enable our pupils to learn. In addition the school
has two trained communication teaching assistants who support the work of
the therapists. In this way we are able to meet the sensory and
communication needs of our children and young people. This is particularly
so for those young children entering school with little or no verbal language or
communication and/or for those children and young people who need a
sensory based curriculum.
All pupils are assessed on entry to the school by the speech and language
therapists, so an individual speech and language plan can be drawn up for
school and home. The speech therapists meet regularly with parents/carers
to review this plan.
We also use an art therapist across the federation.
Staff Qualifications and training
The Executive Headteacher and Head of School have a masters level
qualification PGCSE in Autism. Debbie Mahoney, one of our communication
teaching assistants is a qualified makaton trainer.
The Executive Headteacher is PECs, TEACCH and SCERTs trained.
In addition all staff follow a yearly rolling programme of training in the
following:
 Team teach
 TEACCH
 Intensive interaction
 PECS awareness
 Makaton sign language
 Communicate in Print.
 SCERTS is currently being piloted in two primary classes with training
to be rolled out in September 2014.
In addition staff are regularly trained to level 1 first aid, with specific named
staff being trained to a higher level.
The senior leadership team are Level 5 safeguarding trained, with all staff
receiving level 1 safeguarding training.